2014 F1 season

Emerson Fittipaldi believes the Drag Reduction System introduced to Formula One three years ago has been a positive development for the sport.

Writing in an article for McLaren, Fittipaldi said that while DRS can make passing too easy in some instances, he thinks it has been to the benefit of F1 as a whole.

“Purists tend to criticise DRS, but in my view they’re wrong to do so,” said the two-times world champion.

“Granted, initially, on some circuits, DRS occasionally made overtaking a little easier than is ideal, but on balance the contribution made by DRS has in my opinion been positive.

“And, more important, on the vast majority of circuits, even with DRS, overtaking is still sufficiently difficult that it demands that each driver knows how to race, not only how to drive quickly, which isn’t the same thing at all.”

The only change to DRS for this season is in the size of the rear wing flaps. These have been made larger in an attempt to ensure DRS remains approximately as powerful as it has been previously despite the reduction in downforce in this year’s cars.

91 comments on DRS critics are “wrong” – Fittipaldi

@foleyger Is he? The problem isn’t DRS. It’s the aerodynamic regulations which leads the cars to leave a hell of a lot of dirty air behind, therefor a following car must be much much faster to overtake.

Change the regs to fix that, and then we can get rid of DRS. DRS is an ugly plaster to the problem, and fans are picking at the plaster. When what they should be focused on is getting stitches for the real problem – the regulations.

@timi I agree with you that overtaking is the problem and cleaning up dirty air is the solution. But as @robbie has pointed out a few times, smaller and flatter wings in front and back are really the only way they can do that, currently. For some reason that doesn’t seem to be considered.

The wings in pre-2009 may have been shallower/smaller, but with the rear wing at least they had an over all gain over the post 2009 wings.. The lower positioning of the wing made it interact with the diffuser better, creating more downforce and dirty air.

@timi,@daved, Can I correct both of you, dirty air does not make it harder to overtake on a straight, in fact dirty air helps “drafting” and passing in a straight line , it is when going around corners that dirty air hurts a following car by upsetting the laminar flow of air over the front wing resulting in loss of downforce and increased understear and tyre wear. The only sensible solution is to decrease the size and effectiveness of front wings in producing downforce and compensate for the loss with more mechanical grip or ground effect downforce.

@hohum Yes, agreed. I was really talking about the corners where a great deal of overtaking actually occurs…or at least should be occurring LOL
As for the straights, see my post just below this on how I’d like to see them fix that problem, especially if they won’t go after the low profile wings.
But as @timi says, they seem to actually LIKE their DRS and must think the average fan can’t tell the difference between real racing and a gimmick so they go for that instead of a real fix.

I’m going to say this here, at the top, and I’m asking everyone to read my post before they totally write me off :)

I think we’re fighting the wrong demon here. Movable aero parts is not the issue, it’s the implementation we call DRS. Letting the cars get a higher top speed through Movable AeroDynamics, (MAD) :) is a good thing. And I dubbed it MAD because I want to get away from the DRS issues…and because they’ll be racing in anger LOL

Back to my point: Just like more hp is a good thing because it lets the cars go faster and who isn’t thrilled about the prospect of seeing them do ~375kph in the speed trap at Monza this year?!? without movable aerodynamics of some type, that will be more like 345kph.

So I’m suggesting that we get rid of DRS with it’s silly rules about when you can use it, artificial passing, etc and view MAD as the new norm and drivers can use that just like they use KERS or their turbo chargers this year: Anytime they put their foot in it to make the cars go faster.

Bottom line: I like the cars going faster….I just want the silly DRS rules changed so that it isn’t just an overtaking gimmick.

I would agree. I say that it is a gimmick because it’s applied in such an arbitrarily gimmicky way i.e. only to the driver behind and only when they are within a pre-determined time. (why they don’t adjust this rather than the zones and activation points is beyond me – it would be easier to adjust and you could avoid the current problem which is that it tends to be way, way too easy or conversely, impossible to get the overtake done. all the good passes last year were done without DRS.)

also, they don’t gain that much with DRS at Monza because they are already running low-downforce – there’s just not that much to gain. you may be thinking of 2010 and McLaren’s f-duct which was usable around the entire lap.

@frood19 yeah, Monza may be a bit of a stretch for that much of a performance gain. I was going by some numbers I could find for F1 cars (circa 2011 and a Road and Track article) that had some actual F1 car numbers. With a Cd of .98 and a frontal area of 1.33m^2 yeilds an effective CdA of 1.3m^2. DRS drops that Cd to .81 and at a track like Monza, that’s worth slightly over 4MJ of saved energy. From a pure aero drag perspective, that’s like adding 160hp to the engines power. Of course, as you point out, Monza already goes with a low down force setup so it will probably only have half that effect at Monza.
Assuming the engines are about 30% efficiency, that 4MJ could save a driver ~6.5 laps worth of gas per race. That is a LOT of extra fuel when you’re already constrained by the 100kg limit.

If F1 is really about efficiency per kg of fuel as they suggest, then they should allow the teams to take advantage of this. And it would give the rest of us more pure racing as they would not have to be saving all the time.

Also, movable aero is starting to hit street cars and the high end cars are closing down grills, etc in some of their newer models to improve highway mpg. The whole point is to be more relevant to road racing, right??? :)

If you adore DRS you might as well throw track position to the bin and make F1 races like rally stages one car at the time.

In my opinion DRS is an inelegant take on a bigger problem, if cars can’t follow each other solve the aero. If cars won’t run in q3 don’t penalize tyre use. These are the solutions but using duck tape is easier and it also gives these guys a reason to mess about if it weren’t the faults if everything was perfect they wouldn’t have a job. This is how the world works.

If you really don’t want thugs selling drugs go after the buyers with no users there’s no selling drugs, otherwise you’re always going to inflate prices and encourage more people to sell drugs. Hell if you don’t want drugs just legalize them and educate people about them.

DRS also has unexpected consequences, like the Hamilton – Bottas incident in which a car just lapped is immediately able to “attack” the driver who has just lapped him, while on the same straight he was lapped.
DRS as it is currently implemented leads to confusing situations, as the primary reason for its introduction was to clear back markers and slower cars.

Just a few quick comments here having gotten a mention in a post above and after quickly scanning the comments so far. When I suggested smaller flatter wings it was not with a certain year or era in mind, it is with Monza in mind….every year. I think if they were limited to this much wing at all venues that would go a long way toward closer racing without the need for DRS.

Only other comment I have is that EF’s opinion is clear that he thinks DRS is good for the sport…I just don’t see where he says in what way. So I think it is just political speak. If he had a solid argument as to why he thinks it is good for the sport, I think I would still respond with a comment such as…if DRS is good for the sport then the sport has a problem.

Being an FIA employee, it’s clear he has to say something like that. But when he admits that “on some circuits, DRS occasionally made overtaking a little easier than is ideal”, why does nothing happen but gets even worse than before (2013 was awful in that respect)?

Come on man, give Emerson some credit. Do you think he needs anything from the FIA at this point. Fame, money, a job? Double F1 champ Indycar champ, living and breathing F1 legend and straight talking (always been) guy. He doesn’t need to say anything he doesn’t agree with.

@pmccarthy_is_a_legend There’s so many former drivers and also world champs who need all three of those things at the moment… It really wouldn’t surprise me anymore. I just try to understand how a two times world champion from the 70s can make such a statement:

on balance the contribution made by DRS has in my opinion been positive

and be honest at the same time. I don’t know which races he saw. In most of the races I saw, it was far from difficult to overtake with DRS. It’s frustrating to see a car flying by another one just after Eau Rouge because of DRS instead of not knowing who will be ahead at the end of Kemmel straight. It is completely unnecessary there and only one example where DRS is not needed at all.

Maybe I’m getting him wrong but his comment

And, more important, on the vast majority of circuits, even with DRS, overtaking is still sufficiently difficult that it demands that each driver knows how to race, not only how to drive quickly, which isn’t the same thing at all.

rather reads like: It’s difficult because you have to take the right line and the right braking point etc. While that might be true, it is part of what an F1 driver has to be able to deliver every race all season long. Because of DRS the battle when going into corners is not given at all most of the time because the overtake happened way before the next cornrer.

Please, listen to yourself. What former F1 champ needs any of those things, especially one as accomplished as Fittipaldi? You sound so misinformed when you post a comment like that. Just because he is saying something you don’t agree with instead of thinking about the subject a bit harder you choose to take the man’s quote and twist it into something that suits your view. He never said DRS was perfect, he said ‘on the balance’ it has been good. Yes there are places when it doesn’t work well, thank you for stating the obvious @wallbreaker.
And lastly, whatever you do don’t question this man’s honesty bro, he raced hard in cars that were practically coffins with his mates dying right left and centre and he was doing all that when you were nothing but a swimmer inside your father’s nuts**k.

What former F1 champ needs any of those things, especially one as accomplished as Fittipaldi?

I never said that. I suggested that there are always former drivers and also champions (Villeneuve comes to my mind immediately) who are desperate to get some attention or money or both. Knowing that I’m always cautious about what former drivers have to say. It was not my intention to say Emmo is one of them.

Just because he is saying something you don’t agree with instead of thinking about the subject a bit harder you choose to take the man’s quote and twist it into something that suits your view.

Just look at the comments here. The majority of people feel that DRS isn’t needed or needs to be tweaked at least. The same thing I said. I didn’t talk about all the races but about most of them. Sure, some races DRS worked well but those were far too little and I think I’m not the only one who is of that opinion. And the examples are clearly there. Other guys pointed them out here as well. I just don’t see how there is that balance he talked about. If you can show me statistics, feel free to prove me wrong.

And before accusing me of taking “the man’s quote and twist it into something that suits” my view, please, take time and read carefully. I didn’t write “Maybe I’m getting him wrong” for you to overread it, it’s simply my interpretation of what he said. Don’t make more of it.

Yes there are places when it doesn’t work well, thank you for stating the obvious @wallbreaker.

That’s your view and it’s an euphemism of my view. As I said before, show me statistics to prove I’m utterly negative on this.

And lastly, whatever you do don’t question this man’s honesty bro, he raced hard in cars that were practically coffins with his mates dying right left and centre and he was doing all that when you were nothing but a swimmer inside your father’s nuts**k.

Thanks for the information, but I already know all of this. Bro. How about saying some of these things a little nicer next time?

I find it particularly interesting you want me to not “question this man’s honesty” under all circumstances just because for what he did. I have lots of respect for this sort of driver and their accomplishments at their time but blind faith just because of one man’s reputation sounds a little foolish to me. If you apply that logic to Niki Lauda… well, you never saw F1 on RTL, did you? ;)

While I agree EF shouldn’t be derided for his comments, nor should JV, nor are they desperate for attention or money, I also don’t think EF is backing up his argument with anything. He is just saying he believes DRS is good for the sport but isn’t saying how. So in that sense he does come across as just towing the FIA party line.

Sorry but you have your head too far up your own rear end to even contemplate what I am trying to tell you. I’m just calling you out on your BS not here to be nice to you. @wallbreaker as long as you keep spouting out nonsense I will keep calling you out on it, as simple as that. Dude.

Surely it can’t be too difficult to have a Formula Renault-type system implemented, or even better a proximity deactivated DRS in tandem with the normal zones which deactivates the system when you are within a certain distance of another car, so there is no advantage going into the braking zone.

Does anybody even remember life before DRS? Remember how almost every track was as hard as Monaco to get past because of dirty air? Sometimes I think most of the so called fans of F1 are just fans of whinging about how the sport is no good anymore and they’re going yo quit watching in favour of MotoGP or some other series where there is still “real racing.” And yet… They still watch and what’s worse, they still come on sites and complain about it! Very amusing! :D

@abbinator I’m putting up with DRS because there are many other aspects about Formula 1 that I still love. I don’t see how commenting on blogs saying you don’t appreciate this particular aspect of the sport is anything but normal.

Back then we had proper racing & real exciting overtaking rather than the utterly boring highway passing we see thanks to the Dumb Racing Solution.

DRS creates zero excitement, It just creates a series of utterly boring highway passes which is so boring to watch that I’ve stopped watching more than one race because of it & for the record over the 30+ years before DRS I never once turned off a race which I had started watching.

The thing I loved about F1 was the racing, I loved watching drivers racing for a position, Fighting each other hard with unpredictability over if/when an overtake would occur. I loved watching those hard fought for, super exciting overtakes where the car behind had to work hard to pull off the overtake.
I became fans of drivers like Hamilton, Montoya, Kobayashi, Villeneuve, Senna & more because they were great racers who had the skill to pull off brilliant overtakes, At times when overtaking was considered impossible & thats why these drivers stood out above the rest.

The past 3 years the racing has simply not been as good in that respect, Passing has become so commonplace & so ridiculously easy in most cases that theres no interest or excitement over it now. The car behind pushes his DRS button & is past very easily half way down the straght, No late braking battle for the corner, No exciting wheel to wheel battle, Nothing!

Worse still, Everyone is able to easily pass now so the great racers no longer stand out. The core skills of overtaking & defending are becoming utterly worthless. Most the time there’s little point in defending because DRS is so powerful & when all you need do is push a button in a designated zone the skill of overtaking has been taken down several notches.

Looking back to 2013, For the 1st time there was more DRS generated passes than real overtaking & according to som estats I’ve seen elsewhere 84% of the DRS passes were on the easy side. That in my opinion is utterly wrong!

If DRS worked like it was meant to & acted purely as an assist, Aiding the car behind to get alongside then fine. But when most of the time its generating the passes very easily then its not working as its meant to & is definitely not improving anything.

DRS is nothing more than quantity over quality. Were getting nothing but a lot more extremely low quality highway passing which just isn’t in any way interesting or exciting to watch as a racing fan & the sooner F1 moves away from that the better things will be.

And regarding people ‘still watching’, Worldwide TV figures & track attendance are both dropping since 2011 (Including in many country’s where the TV broadcasters have remained unchanged) & I know plenty of former F1 fans in that group who no longer watch F1 purely because of the damage DRS has done.

I’ve said before how myself & a large group of family/friends used to attend Montreal every year, Yet we never went in 2013 & won’t be going in 2014 purely because were not going to watch another DRS-fest where nobody wants to try & overtake at the hairpin anymore because of the DRS zone down the next straght (Where there are no fans by the way).

If people really enjoy all this utterly boring & unexciting straght line highway passing then good for you. As long as it remains however my interest in F1 will continue to be in free fall because I find the DRS-era to be utterly boring with some of the worse racing I’ve ever seen in any of the categories I’ver ever watched.

That. I’m starting to get my racing fix from purer categories like the WEC, WRC, GT Series, and GP2 and Indycar to a slightly lesser extent. I love the technology of Formula 1 (aerodynamics in particular), I love watching onboards from qualifying with no one talking over it. This is what keeps me hooked on F1, because it certainly isn’t the racing.

So what happened to anybody stuck behind a Sauber (especially Hülkenberg) late last year? Or to anyone stuck behind a Force India in 2012? Or to Mark Webber in Austin last year when he ran behind Grosjean for the entire race? I understand some do not like DRS, but to overstate it like that shows how little attention you pay to the actual race. DRS basically helps who it should in the race, and racing should not be watching a train of cars not able be able to pass.

racing should not be watching a train of cars not able be able to pass.

And it should also not a race which featured 50+ easy DRS passes & as someone above points out according to the stats, In 2013 80+% of DRS passes were on the easier side.

DRS basically helps who it should in the race,

But who’s to say who deserves DRS help & who doesn’t?

If a driver has worked hard to get his car ahead of others, Does he then deserve to be DRS-ed & have no way to defend against it?

Look at Paul Di Resta at Bahrain last year, Great drive to get into the top 3, Then others cruise up behind him, Push there DRS button & there was nothing Paul could do to defend his place, That is utterly wrong.
A great drive by a driver in a slower car should be rewarded & not punished via stupid gimmicks like DRS just because a car behind may be ‘faster’.

Go back further to Montreal 2011, Schumacher pulls out a brilliant drive to get upto 2nd. DRS gets enabled & then he’s utterly defenseless against Button/Webber behind him who both just cruise past him with ease, Again that was wrong.

Anyone of you have a WDC or a even a single GP victory under your belt? No? What makes you think you know more than someone who does?

I’m unsure if the current grid’s world champions would agree with you or Emerson.

Does anybody even remember life before DRS?

Yes, in 2010 we had refuelling removed and we had more passing than the previous 17 years that did have refuelling. In addition, other factors, such as the tyres (which to be fair, have been poor, except for 2011) have also changed since DRS was introduced.

This is the main reason I hate DRS and can only see it as a gimmick- we never got a chance to see what F1 was like between them fixing the legitimate problems and drafting in a desperate solution to a problem which may not even exist any more.

@abbinator 1 WDC that will debunk your argument… Jacques Villeneuve…. No matter what JV says, he always seems to be unenlightened on any subject… Conversely, I’m sure that some of the F1Fanatics on this website might have some valuable contributions to this and any topic

Why debate the DRS when drivers in 2014 have not got fuel enough to push for a full race? Eco-drive is THE skill needed for the new format of F1. Not speed. DRS or not is NOTHING compared to the eco-drive crap. Let’s focus on the main things pls.

That is at least equal though and will get markedly better as time progresses, particularly next season when they engineers will have time to fiddle with the engines. So it will be almost a non-issue very soon, whereas DRS remains an issue.

I think the eco-driving is going to turn out to be less of a factor than we think. For the first few races, there will be so many retirements that the safety car will have to come out a few times and that will let them save fuel for ~10-20 laps per race so they’ll be racing like gang busters the rest of the time.

As they get a better handle on it, they’ll improve the strategy and even the efficiency year to year so it will not be a long term issue as Max (@vettel1) has said.

Yeah, because before 2014, we’ve never heard a team tell a driver they need to conserve fuel.
This year, we have 2/3 of the fuel we had last year… but we have 3/4 of the cylinders, and 2/3 of the engine capacity as well, plus turbo, plus ERS (double the kW available, and usable for 33.3 seconds, instead of 6.67 seconds).
I suspect that the difference between last year and this year will be minimal, and drivers will be told to conserve fuel at the same tracks as last year.

The regulation changes (less downforce, more top speed) will do the job, we don’t need DRS to make races more entertaining – especially considering that the whole double points gimmick is already enough artificial entertainment for F1 as it stands.

After my initial negative reaction to DRS, I’ve come to agree more with Fitipaldi that not. I think many fans don’t seem to remember or understand how infrequent and difficult overtaking had become in F1, and what a huge detriment to enjoying the racing that presented. What could F1 have done to remedy this? Start dismantling the aero and down force developments of the previous 25 years? Redesign every F1 track? I think we have to bear in mind that like many rules in F1, DRS is a compromise solution and as such I think it’s more of a positive than a negative. I think sometimes it’s the *idea* of DRS that bothers fans more than the actual use of it. I also hope that something better comes along to replace DRS but until then, I can live with it.

DRS in limited zones is a gimmick, DRS anywhere would discount the gimmickyness of it. I think they should have moveable aero surfaces, just so long as the pilot is controlling the angle and the actuation, computer controlled moveable aero would be unsporting, just like computer controlled brake bias/kers and computer controlled throttle by wire.

Emmo is spot on
As long as the cars have both enormous rear wings developing huge amounts of turbulence at the back, while at the same time having complex profiles making them enormously sensitive aerodynamically – then DRS levels the playing field.

These aren’t normal cars, they REALLY need clean air to go fast and they throw up REALLY dirty air behind them.

Put it another way, any day of the week I would take a race full of DRS passes over a snorefest where the only passing is in the pits.